Pictures

I am sorry I don't have a digital camera and no pictures. I know they help. I do changes all the time and know ahead of time how once I look at the layout but I know that unless you do this enough times it can be hard to figure out.

I would also like to accertain what is really the best ones to do rather than a shotgun approach to everything, though most of what I have done has always had a positive effect and I know what the changes "should" do.

Worthless is pretty strong. I built my preamp with a basic explanation that I drew a schematic from. But I have also received much information that was in either email form or on another forum that never had a picture and was useful.

You need to get a schematic of the amp, look at it. and figure some of this out. It is not hard once you put your mind to it. Many people can go by an explanation, some need more. We are all at different levels and sometimes a stretch is good.

John, be wary of any stepped attenuator with the woo, you'll spend a lot of time in the 5-6 o'clock range.

I like to be near the end of a volume control. This is the best place to be as most everything is out of the signal, when a series attenuator is used. I take it that you are at near the end of the rotation?

I know it's hard to quantify, but how much would you say it improves the sound? I'm completely in love with my stock wooaudio3 to sony 3k sound. Anyone who didn't like the sony 3ks, owes it to themselves to hear this setup once. It's just so... smooooth.

After the above change and as the hours went by, the amp opened up more and more. Layering increased with the recording space being reproduced in a more and more convincing manner. I was listening to Diana Krall, “All For You”, noticing the subtle changes in her voice and her palpable presence. Saxophone on my jazz recordings has a throaty and tangible quality. I have also noted that the depth and width of the recording landscape increased, much to my listening pleasure. Bass impact has increased and the perception of “speed” in the leading edge of notes and of the plucked string gained in realism and tightness.

John

Oh man, that's awesome! I'm a huge note decay freak. Note decay, in my opinion, is one of the largest factors in convincing me I'm at a real performance or listening to speakers.

With the HD650's and my own cables the sound is open and very enjoyable. It is also very fast and has very good decay. I beleive that the B+ voltage, that needs to be treated just as importantly as the signal because it is part of the signal, is often neglected. The stock 3 is fine but these changes elevate the amp to another point, in my opinion.

The main problem with using the DACT was that the 24th step is incredibly loud (I guess the last step is little or no resistance with this design), and the 23rd step is a decent volume level, so every now and then you'd accidentally go to the 24th step and kill your ears. The "ebay" stepped attenuator does not reach a good volume level on the Woo even on the last step. Mr. Wu said there is a resistor that could be removed for increased gain but it would cause the lowest setting on the stepped attenuator to be already at a somewhat loud level. I just gave up on the attenuator search and bypassed the attenuator altogether for the time being, and am controlling the volume with my Shanling.

Worthless is pretty strong. I built my preamp with a basic explanation that I drew a schematic from. But I have also received much information that was in either email form or on another forum that never had a picture and was useful.

You need to get a schematic of the amp, look at it. and figure some of this out. It is not hard once you put your mind to it. Many people can go by an explanation, some need more. We are all at different levels and sometimes a stretch is good.

John

I got a lot of useful info from your posts jamato. Some of your comments on the blackgates has wondering what they would do for my singlepower mpx3. By the way, I have managed to get a friend to build me some octal to loctal adapters so I can try some 7/14n7's in my singlepower. I am going to use a true 14 volt power supply and see if this doesnt help the 14n7's hold up better. I suspect that 12.6 volts may allow them to draw a little more current than they like to handle and it makes them get noisy.

The output caps, Blackgates, are now pretty well broken in and I have noticed that the sound has become very smooth with a very open and dynamic presentation. The soundstage has nice depth and the feeling of "you are there" is very real. I have to stop thinking "I am listening to headphones" because when I do it is like being at the venue. I switched out the cathode battery that I put in to a nice Riken Ohm carbon comp for a few weeks and then yesterday back to the battery. I notice an improvement with the battery bias but sometimes you have to listen to something for a while before the sound really sets in.

Anyway, I beleive the Blackgates are a step up improving the bass, soundstage, detail and transparency. Again, stock the Woo3 is great but I like to fiddle.

I am using a very heavy duty 6080WB manufactured for Bendix (it is unlike any RCA's I have seen and is labeled Bendix) and two 6DJ8 Holland PQ driver tubes.